


never once

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, Rare Pair, Romance, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:23:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10038179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: It was only supposed to be one time.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Theme : free for all  
> Prompt: The Flash, Caitlin Snow/Joe West, It was only supposed to be one time.
> 
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/796079.html?thread=102365871#t102365871

Sitting at the dining room table, Joe honestly wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or cry. A soft sniffle to his left told him that Caitlin was in no such state of uncertainty. Looking over at her, he saw that she was looking at him, dabbing her eyes with a balled up tissue, her knuckles white as she gripped it tightly. Her eyes sparkled with still unshed tears and something pulled inside his chest - he never could stand to see her cry. 

"Hey, now." He reached out, covered her free hand with his. "There's no need for all that..." 

The giggle Caitlin let out was slightly on the hysterical side. "I just don't understand how this happened." 

Joe pressed his lips together tightly, refusing to allow the obvious retort to pass his lips. Besides, unlike her he'd had at least forty-eight hours now to come to terms with the prospect they'd just confirmed. That was how long ago it had been since he'd noticed a pattern of events - her extreme tiredness, lack of appetite, sudden sensitivity to smells, tender breasts - and remembered that he'd seen them all before, and that the proof of that was currently napping upstairs, three weeks shy of her first birthday. 

"We said... It was only supposed to be one time." Caitlin covered her lips with her hand, shook her head and stared at the ceiling. "It wasn't even supposed to be once." 

And just like that, Joe was back sitting at this very table, in this very situation, some twenty months ago, knowing that his life as he knew it was going to change forever after that conversation. 

Then, as now, he knew that even with the initial shock, he wouldn't change a thing. 

"I know." He squeezed her hand before raising it and bringing it to his lips. 

Caitlin shook her head again. "How are you so calm?"

"Practice." She narrowed her eyes, but he wasn't joking. "Sweetheart, this is my fourth kid," he reminded her. "Fifth, if you count Barry." Which they both knew he did. "And every single one of them's been a surprise." 

She lifted one eyebrow and suddenly he could see his Caitlin - strong, resilient, just a little sassy - peeking through the shock. "I'm sure they can do something about that these days," she said and he didn't blink. 

"I'm calling the doctor's office first thing Monday morning," he told her and she actually laughed out loud at that, leaning into him and letting her head fall against his shoulder. 

As he rested his cheek against the top of her head, he heard her voice, soft and wondering. "We're going to have two kids under two," she murmured. "What are we going to do ?" 

"What we always do." She tilted her head up to look to his eyes, but she didn't move her head from his shoulder. "Love them. Love each other. And hope to God HR doesn't try to babysit again." 

She laughed again at that and he cut off the sound by pressing his lips to hers, loving the feel of her smiling into the kiss. "We're gonna be just fine," he promised after he pulled away from her. "All four of us."


End file.
